Akama Shrine — Heike Tragedy and Underwater Torii

Akama Shrine (赤間神宮) is a waterfront shrine dedicated to the child Emperor Antoku, who drowned at age 8 in the 1185 Battle of Dannoura — the final naval engagement that destroyed the Heike clan and established samurai rule in Japan. The shrine's vermillion buildings face the Kanmon Strait where 500 Heike warriors and court nobles perished, with the Heike women jumping into the sea holding the emperor rather than surrendering. The shrine's distinctive dragon palace architecture (ryugu-zukuri) references the legend that Emperor Antoku now resides in the underwater dragon palace.

The shrine grounds include Hoichi Hall, named after the blind biwa priest made famous in Lafcadio Hearn's ghost story 'Hoichi the Earless' — a musician haunted by Heike ghosts demanding he recite the Tale of the Heike nightly. Seven monuments mark the graves of Heike warriors, while the imperial tomb honors Antoku. Each May 2–4, the shrine hosts the Sentei Festival where shrine maidens dressed as Heike court ladies reenact the imperial drowning — one of Japan's most solemn historical commemorations.